A Simple Way To Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work

Been on my Xbox 360 a lot lately, both to play games and watch TV...

I learned from "Penny Arcade", of all places, that most (all?) of Doctor Who, new and old, is now available via streaming Netflix, which I am able to enjoy via the Xbox. So, I finally got to watch "Blink". Hooray. Even classicaljunkie liked it! We are likely to go back and start watching season 3 from the start. (I gave up midway through season 2 when Sci-Fi Channel was broadcasting it, either after the Satan-in-space one or the Cybermen ones. It was just too cheesy.)

I finished "Operation: Anchorage", the first chunk of Fallout 3 DLC. Meh. The super-easy combat isn't any harder, and the game once again makes it even easier by pairing you up with a literally invulnerable NPC buddy. (The main storyline has one of these too, but at least you can choose to make the game harder by telling him to stay home.) I had fun with it, but I am unlikely to purchase further expansions for this game. I still have plenty of the main map to explore, should I feel like it later.

I picked up "Castle Crashers" finally. It's stupid fun, as expected. Also lots of poop jokes. I wish 360 controllers weren't so dang expensive or I'd go pick up a couple more, just to be able to host a four-player local game.

My field trip into non-random Xbox Live play last Tuesday evening was a success, thanks to Anthony and Sean. I got to try out the new "party" system, introduced to all Xbox users with last November's OS update, and confirmed that it will dovetail quite nicely with a certain project of mine.

Hmm... I'd better go hit the trenches and finish up what's left of said project, now.

Fallout 3 continues to be a tremendous piece of work. I am really having some problems putting the damn thing away. The game's clock says I've put over 40 hours into it, which I grudgingly believe to be accurate. (Hmm, I don't know if it counts time that I spend staring at my status screen, which is how I sometimes leave it paused for a while.) EIther way, this is the most engaging CRPG I have ever played. I like it so much that I am choosing to look past its recent habit of locking up whenever I try to use certain doors, or fast-travel to certain locations. (The fact it has a good autosave system also helps.)

My character has really gotten her ninja on. The first few levels were a little rough (as is so for any PC who voluntarily takes a low-hit-die class) but she became so adept at the snipey-snipey that I've turned up the game's difficulty level. This makes open combat more expensive, and therefore makes all this sneaking seem more worthwhile. I am predicting that when I've completed the game with this character, I'll go back to the start and roll up a big bruiser, just to see how differently the game plays. I don't do this, normally. Crazy.

I sometimes run across other recent, not-quite-buggy In-play oddities, which I assume are the different NPC's scripts colliding in strange ways. Last night I discovered a minor character lying dead in the center of the town my PC lives in. There was no explanation for it, and none of the NPCs were paying any mind to him. After looting his corpse (hey, it's still an RPG), I picked him up and waved him around at passers-by, but they just said their usual scripted "Hello! Nice day!" greetings to me, their friendly-if-eccentric young neighbor. I then had some Weekend at Bernie's fun, propping him up in a chair outside of my house, but he kept sliding off. I settled on taking an empty bottle and laying it by his head: there, it just looks like he's merely dead drunk, now. Much better. Role playing!!